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I'm a code monkey myself. I came up through the programming side and learned design, rather than the design side learning programming. I wouldn't say that I have Earth-shattering designs; they're fairly conventional. But I stay within my skill set, which I think a disturbing number of people do not, and since I am, and think like, a programmer, I'm always looking at designs in terms of "What is someone going to be doing here? What are they going to want? How can I make it easy for them to hand over money?" Showing off my design skills would be an exercise in futility. And I always remember some words by Jakob Nielsen: people will spend most of their time on websites other than mine. He's right. They know what they want. They're there to get it. I can either facilitate them or impede them. My clients are not paying me to impede them.
I don't even think Baen's new site is all that pretty, but that's a design opinion. What I like might not be what anyone else likes. But I can say that it is not as easy to use as its predecessor, and I can point to reasons for that. Nobody ever left a website because it was too plain, but plenty leave sites every minute because they can't find what they want and need. This one needs fixing.
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